Officials at HRDC were intimidated into the immigration exemption for strippers. You know the one that has Judy Sgro in so much trouble. The National Post is reporting the following:

A senior government official said intimidation by organized crime in the adult entertainment business led HRDC to set up the fast-track program for foreign strippers. …

Human Resources Minister Joe Volpe finally cancelled the special exemption on Dec. 15, but he had to battle his own officials who feared HRDC field officers could face retaliation from organized crime.

Senior HRDC officials informed Mr. Volpe's office the special exemption was given to foreign dancers because they didn't want their front-line officers to deal with strip club owners on a case-by-case basis.

Organized crime may well be better than the arbitrary, unorganized kind. The organized criminal has a tendency to keep to his own crowd and of course they provide the vices that the government does not. Government has the alcohol & gambling rackets, organized crime has the drug & prostitute rackets, the police have the protection racket. The only way to get rid of organized crime is for the government to take over the drug and prostitution rackets or to legalize the same. The government has legalized limited gambling and booze sales, controlling access and content. The mob are pretty well out of that business. One could assume that legalizing limited solicitation and pot would sure put a damper on the business of the mob as well. These activities would become legitimate businesses, paying taxes and the like. All that would be left would be hardcore drugs, but they may well go the way of bookie betting, guns, the unions and the protection racket. I do not think that some police officers will be that happy with the competition.